I hope you were able to turn the corner into the new year feeling refreshed, rested, and resolute for your continued good work of expansion in whatever way that looks and feels aligned to you. Days before New Year’s Eve we completed our exploration of The Devi Bhagavatam in my International book club, VVBC. Spending nine weeks getting intimate with various aspects of Supreme Devi had an undeniable heart-expanding effect on me and those who came along on the expedition. And th

The holidays can bring so much. Joy, connection, nostalgia. And sometimes, unexpectedly, grief. I’d had such a lovely day: lunch out with my companions, we dined on delicious food and imbibed deep and compelling conversation. Afterwards we attended the Dalí museum to see a temporary exhibition of his masterpiece The Madonna of Portlligat (I’ll tell you all about it another time). We passed through the cheerful holiday market on our way home for dinner followed by an old blac

Have you ever been so exhausted that you felt asleep even while awake? That was me at 19. Picture this: Classes at Scottsdale Community College by day, stocking shelves at Walmart by night, afternoon and evening rehearsals for As You Like It . I was preparing the role of Rosalind, the most extensive female role in the Shakespeare canon in terms of line load and stage time. Can you spot what was missing from this packed schedule? Sleep. In one caffeine-pill-fueled rehearsal, t

Have you ever given much thought to dragons? They’ve been on my mind lately since studying an episode in the Devi Bhagavatam in which a dragon hoards all the moisture in the world, causing a massive drought. It got me thinking: there are at least two kinds of dragons. The lucky dragon—light, fantastic, generous—bestows wealth to all fortunate enough to encounter them. Coins pour from their lovely claws, an endless font of fortune. And then there’s the other kind: hiding in m

Have you ever thought about the components of shadow puppets? Me neither. Not until All Saints Day at the Toy Museum in Figueres. The Museo del Joguet hosted an event for children to explore the museum at night in search of ghosts, so naturally my sister, brother-in-law, and I bought tickets! We’re all three children at heart. Walking around a darkened museum at night with a flashlight was its own kind of magic, but what struck me was the beauty and intrigue of the shadows. A

Have you ever felt so crestfallen by your own interpretation of reality that you opted to leap to a parallel one? I recently saw an entirely unflattering photo of myself that put me in an uncomfortable vanity spiral. Not that physical beauty has ever been my top priority, but this image was so far off from my mental image of myself that I began to question everything. It’s good to have a close friend nearby at times like these. I was lucky to have one of the best, but try as

A man came up to me at the supermarket and said, "I see you walking every day." He emphasized the words every day and added, "I just want to introduce myself because I walk every day, too.” His words landed like a quiet validation. He’d seen me. He’d noticed. And I felt unexpectedly proud. Flashback to this time last year: My dear, I was in so much pain. My biggest goal in life was to one day be able to put my pants on again while standing up, and to be able to bend over to

If someone said to you, “Your feathers irritate me,” you’d probably look at them quizzically and then move on. Why? Because you know beyond the shadow of a penguin’s hat that you do not in fact have feathers. Whatever’s irritating them is entirely on them. That’s how stable we can be in knowing who and what we are. But when we’re unstable in ourselves, we might believe their assessment. We might question ourselves, defend ourselves, or worse—loathe ourselves for having those

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